


The Numbers Game

by windandthestars



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-09
Updated: 2013-12-09
Packaged: 2018-01-04 02:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1075717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windandthestars/pseuds/windandthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You’ll call me a cab and tomorrow we’ll pretend like we spent the entire night talking about economics which decidedly has nothing to do with Will.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Numbers Game

**Author's Note:**

> Set some time post 2x06 One Step Too Many

They're doing a series of segments on environmental topics at eight. The original idea had been to cover some of the lesser known issues; Mac wasn't going to stand for footage of kindergarteners planting trees. What exactly was going to be in the segments though hadn't been decided. Apparently, Jim had had some pretty good ideas, but Will wasn't committing to anything officially. It wasn't a big deal, they still had another week before they would have to scramble to put something together, but Mac had been going on about it all night like it was the end of the world and Sloan finally, in an effort to finish her drink without getting a headache, had made a suggestion.

It hadn't seemed like much at the time, nothing she suggested to Kenzie seemed like a big deal until she went and ran with it. And yet here she was, trying to explain the finer points of market externalities to a woman who couldn't accurately draw a supply and demand curve.

"Externalities." Sloan repeats the word slowly. Mac's an incredibly smart woman. She can follow and pull together threads of information on disparate topics and form the best news broadcasts Sloan has ever seen, but she's failing to grasp some very basic definitions. "Existing outside of."

"Why?" Mac swirls the amber liquid in the bottom of her glass and frowns at Sloan.

"It's one of the drawbacks of a capitalist economy. Not all environmental impacts are monetized in the same way. The cost of oil or raw materials isn’t always passed on to the consumer. It's not just pollution, Mac."

"I understand that part." The glass makes another loop over the bar. “Why do you think he did it?”

“Did what?”

“Why do you think he went on the morning show? He looked like an idiot. He had to have known he would.”

“We’re talking about Will now.” Sloan sighs and signals for another drink. “That was weeks ago.”

“He gave five thousand dollars to Sloan-Kettering.”

“How do you-“

“Scott called Will’s office. I answered. Apparently Will’s not in the habit of making large donations without clearing it with his accountant first.”

“Will has an accountant?”

“He went and made an idiot out of himself.”

“Maybe you should dump another drink in his lap.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” Sloan takes a swig of her drink. “I’m getting drunk now while you talk about Will for the next hour and a half. After that, if I’m still capable of forming coherent thoughts, which I hope not, we’ll go back to talking about economics. You’ll call me a cab and tomorrow we’ll pretend like we spent the entire night talking about economics which decidedly has nothing to do with Will. Then maybe I’ll remember to remind you that we could always use the footage from ACN Morning and talk about tiny people planting trees.”

“We are not talking about kindergarteners planting trees.”

“So market externalities.”

“Pitfall of a capitalist economy.”

“Right, but here’s the thing…”


End file.
